Editors' Review

WinAmp 5.3 took some long-needed steps to improve the old-school media player, with support for AAC encoding, CD burning, and a robust file-management system. WinAmp 5.56 ups the ante with strong support for portable devices, including iPods, the ability to sync non-DRMed files to your PC from your device, an optional new interface layout and a built-in browser for media discovery.

We liked that clicking on an artist's name will get you related headlines and Web sites in a separate pane. There's also Podcast support, device synchronization that lets you tweak the sync list while in progress, and continued support for AOL's excellent Shoutcast. The new Bento layout is worth mentioning, too, because it gets the venerable llama away from the old modular format. The joined panes for the browser, media player, artist list, album list and more make WinAmp instantly more visually appealing. There's also an Auto-Tag feature, which will download metatags from the Gracenote database, and Winamp's proprietary music scrobler called Orgler, with links back to AOL Music.

If you want MP3 encoding and full-speed CD burning, you have to shell out $19.95 for the Pro version. However, there are other problems. Automatic album art download support is spotty at best. More importantly, there are some stability issues when playing videos, and occasional program crashes were far more common than they should be.

WinAmp 5.56 is no iTunes killer--not yet. It has become, however, a strong alternative and should be of interest to those looking for something with more meat on its bones. Llama meat, that is.

Publisher's Description

Winamp is a free multimedia player made by Nullsoft. It supports numerous audio and video formats. It also plays streamed video and audio content, both live and recorded, authored worldwide. It has an extremely customizable media library, and allows you to rip and burn your favorite music CDs. Winamp has thousands of skins and plug-ins that allow you to change the look-and-feel of the player, as well as add new features. The player also has access to thousands of free songs, videos and online radio stations from SHOUTcast Radio and AOL Radio with XM.

What's new in this version:

Wireless desktop sync with Winamp for Android

iTunes Library Import

Enhanced Windows 8 support

Improved high resolution screen support

Improved playlist generator

Stability improvements, security and bug fixes

Available in 16 languages including Russian, French, German and Polish

Winamp offers a comprehensive GUI, utilizing audio rack design, which provides the user with a flexible playback, yet complete, listening environment; NONE of the current players come close to Winamp's quality or performance! Sound quality is superb through my dual amplifier driven speakers..

Cons

Sadly, Version 5.666 is the last release. (Maybe Winamp will be resurrected in the near future!)

Summary

Winamp pro edition is currently FREE and absolutely top notch! iTunes, MS' Groove and VL's audio quality leave much to be desired; Winamp is truly the best audio player for Win 10, nothing else comes close!

Enlarge your screen by holding down the "CTRL" Key and press the + or - Keys to make your page larger or smaller; The plus sign makes the page larger, and the minus sign makes your page smaller. Repeat pressing the + or - Keys to keep changing the page size - while holding down the CTRL Key.

CTRL + 0 (zero) returns your page to the default window size, which is according to your personalized windows settings.

Brings back nostalgic memories. I have tired VLC which i use primarily for music, now i have switched back to Winamp and the sound it throws is great. Has many skins and tools to configure, which is great.

None. It has become bloated, invasive, and a virus carrier. There are plenty of media players out there. AVOID.

Cons

In the main installer page, it sneakily says that it will change your default search engine to Yahoo, and install two other changes. If you see this (I did), you can uncheck that, and check the "custom install" box, which will allow you to UNCHECK those other install options. Okay, so far so good.

I jumped to the Task Manager and terminated the PC Cleaner process, and was able to actually find it in the Programs list and uninstall it. But I suspect that it is now malware lurking on my machine. So I'll have to start scanning and malwarebytes cleaning.

I loaded WinAmp itself exactly once after all this, and was greated by a loud audio "boom" and a freakin' COMMERCIAL for "WinAMP". C'mon guys, this is beyond bad taste. This thing used to be a lean, free, easy-to-use audio player

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